Arab Democracy:
The Real Question
Resides in Egypt

By
Gerald F. SeibStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated June 16, 2004 12:01 am ET

Lots of people in the Bush administration and beyond are worrying whether the president's vision for a new, democratic Middle East will take hold amid the mess in Iraq. And that is certainly something worth fretting about.

Yet far less time and attention are devoted to what may be a more important question: Will a new Bush initiative to promote democracy and liberalization across the Middle East take hold in Egypt, a country that is both the historic center of the Arab world and home of a leader, President Hosni Mubarak, who...